The 32D ‘Red Arrow’ Veteran Association

The 32D
Infantry Division

in
World War II

The ‘Red Arrow’

Papuan Campaign -
Strategic Situation & the Advance to Buna

Papuan Campaign
- Strategic Situation And Overview

In the Fall of 1942 the
Japanese were in control of half of the Pacific and a large portion of the
Asian continent.It was felt that they were
seriously considering an invasion of Australia.The U.S. Navy's victories at the Coral Sea and Midway in May and June
of 1942 had improved the strategic situation somewhat.But these defeats did not deter the Japanese
from continuing their two pronged offensive in the Southwest Pacific with the
objective of cutting the supply line from America to Australia and New
Zealand.The eastern drive through the
Solomon Islands was eventually halted at Guadalcanal.

The western drive was
attempted in order to gain control of southeastern New Guinea, especially the
Papuan capital of Port Moresby, which would put them in striking distance of
Australia and would strengthen their defenses in the Southwest Pacific.The Japanese defeat during the Battle of the
Coral Sea halted their effort to capture Port Moresby by sea.Undaunted, the Japanese landed troops at
Buna, Gona and Sanananda on the northeast coast of Papua in July and
pushed southward across the Papuan peninsula toward Port Moresby.

Control of the north coast of New Guinea was also
vital to future Allied strategy.Taking
it from the Japanese would remove the threat of an attack on Australia and
would reduce the threat to the Allied supply line from America.Air bases established on New Guinea would
increase the reach of Allied planes.From these bases, the Allies could threaten the center of Japanese power
in the Southwest Pacific, Rabaul.

Before you read of the 32D Division’s
experiences and victory in the Papuan Campaign, it is important that you become
aware of the many variables which contributed directly to the Division’s
performance.As you will soon read, the
early stages of the campaign did not go well.But you will later read that the Division eventually prevailed, by
overcoming the multitude of challenges that it faced through the tremendous
sacrifices, sheer determination and conspicuous bravery its soldiers.

The 32D Division’s early difficulties,
like most American units early in the war, were partly the result of the fact
that America had a very small standing military before World War II.The resulting rapid military expansion
necessitated by the war contributed to serious early deficiencies in leaders,
weapons, equipment and training.The
turnover of senior leaders and sudden influx of inexperienced, raw recruits had
been considerable.The Division’s
training was adversely affected by its reorganization from a ‘square’ division
to a ‘triangular’ division shortly before it entered combat.Its training was further hampered by its
sudden change of mission (from Europe to the Pacific Theater) and the resulting
moves related to that change. During the
period from February 1942, when General Harding took command, to the Division’s
arrival in the combat zone in mid-September, the Division was, as Harding said,
“always getting ready to move, on the move, or getting settled after a
move. (qtd. in Blakeley 84)”

In Australia, the Division’s initial training was
geared toward the fact that its most likely course of action would be to defend
Australia against an invasion by the Japanese.When it was realized that the Division would instead carry the fight to
the Japanese in the jungles of New Guinea, the needed jungle training was
inhibited by lack of time and resources.Little was known about Japanese fighting techniques.Training sites and training aids for jungle
training, as well as weapons and equipment adapted to jungle warfare, were
inadequate or non-existent.In addition
to supply and equipment shortages that seem to be common in all wars, the
Southwest Pacific had the major handicap of its incredibly long supply
lines.The chain of command, from
MacArthur, through two Australian headquarters, to the Division, was the cause
of some problems.

Also, the Division was initially committed to
battle with only two of its infantry regiments (one of which was almost
immediately taken away), and none of its organic artillery, save one howitzer
and some mortars.“The artillery
at the disposal of the 32nd Division during the campaign never exceeded eight
Australian guns of various light calibers and one 105 mm American howitzer.
(Blakeley 56)”These few artillery pieces had to support the Australian forces
as well as the 32D Division.

The climate and terrain in Papua could not have
been worse.The terrain around Buna was
swampy and flat.Most of the area
consisted of incredibly dense vegetation which was a considerable obstacle not
only to movement, but also observation, communications (wire and radio), fire
(both direct and indirect), air support, supply, and evacuation.The climate of the area was wet, hot and
humid.The rainy season was just
beginning; the rivers were deeper, wider and faster than normal and the swamps
were wetter than normal as well.All of
the tropical diseases prevalent in this type of environment flourished,
including malaria, dengue fever, dysentery, athlete’s foot, ringworm and
others.Effective medicines to prevent
and treat these diseases were not readily available.

Another issue that would have a direct impact on
the Division was the inaccurate information available about the disposition of
the Japanese forces.The natives
provided the Division G2 with information that led him to believe the Japanese
garrison at Buna was about a battalion.The Army Air Forces found no signs of the Japanese or their defensive
positions.General MacArthur's
headquarters also seriously underestimated the strength and effectiveness of
the enemy at Buna.Based on what they
had been told, the belief in the 32D Division was that Buna could be
captured easily.

As was soon learned, at great cost, the Japanese
had a well prepared position extending for over ten miles along the coast.It consisted of three main defensive groups
at Gona, Sanananda and Buna.The
Japanese were able to use the open beach for rapid communication between these
groups.The attackers had to struggle
through impenetrable jungles and swamps.The American and Australian attacks were highly canalized on narrow
fronts because there were few trails through the swamps and jungle.The Japanese were very familiar with these
few and poor avenues of approach, so they were well covered by fire from well
prepared, mutually supporting positions.These positions were solidly constructed, to include effective overhead
cover, from heavy logs, and steel oil drums filled with sand.Some positions were made of concrete and
steel.They were all excellently
camouflaged; the fast growing jungle vegetation made them nearly invisible.

Best estimates suggest a force of about 6,500
Japanese in the Buna area in mid-November; of these about 1,000 were fresh
reinforcements from Rabaul.Aside from
the fresh troops, the Japanese were not in great shape.They consisted of fragments of several
different army, navy and marine units, making their organization
problematic.Many were sick or
exhausted.Weapons, food and medical
supplies were in short supply, but stocks of ammunition were adequate.Despite these hardships, and aided by their
advantageous defensive positions, they still possessed the will and the
capability of putting up a strong fight.

“More important still was the fact that for most men concerned
it was their first experience under fire.No training, no tests, no personal evaluations quite equal to the first
trial by fire.It is a painful definitive
shakedown for every unit.Often the
unexpected happens.A loud-mouthed, aggressive
leader folds up; a quiet, unimpressive man becomes a natural leader; and
sometimes the braggart makes good and the timid man becomes more timid . . .
the unit will never again be as unstable as it was during its first fight.” (Blakeley 55)

Papuan Campaign - The Advance to Buna

On 13 September 1942, General MacArthur announced that he
would send the 32D ‘Red Arrow’ Infantry Division to New Guinea.

This decision was due (at least in part) to the
fact that by 14 September the tired Australian militia units had been
pushed back to within thirty-two miles of Port Moresby (most of Australia’s army
was fighting the Germans in North Africa at this time).These militia units had been fighting the
Japanese since they had landed at Buna, Gona and Sanananda in July.The blunt reality was that soldiers were
urgently needed on the Papuan Peninsula.Even though the 32D Division wasn't ready to go; they were
the only division available.(The 41ST
‘Jungleers’ Infantry Division was assembling in
Australia at this time, but the entire division was not on the ground yet.)

Two regimental combat teams (RCT) of the 32D
were designated for initial deployment to New Guinea, the 126TH,
Col. Lawrence A. Quinn, from Carmel, CA, and 128TH, Col. J. Tracy
Hale, from Milwaukee, WI.Each infantry
regiment was joined by a platoon of the 114TH Engineers, a
collecting company and a platoon from the clearing company of the 107TH
Medical Battalion, and a detachment of the 32D Signal Company.The infantry howitzers, most of the 81mm
mortars and the battalion of Divisional field artillery normally part of a RCT
were left in Australia due to the difficulties of transporting them to New
Guinea.Major General George C. Kenney,
commander of the 5TH Air Force, suggested that he could fly the
first regiment in because the situation was critical and time was short.This sort of thing had not been attempted
before, so one company would be used as a test to see how it would work.

At dawn on 15 September, Company E, 126TH
Infantry, commanded by Capt. Melvin W. Schulz, was the first unit to take off
from Amberly Field in Brisbane for the 1,000 mile flight to Port Moresby.It was accompanied by a platoon of Company A,
114TH Engineers, and a small medical detachment, commanded by Capt.
John T. Boet. “In the rush of getting ready on short notice, there was
not time to get the fatigue uniforms which had been sprayed with green
camouflage dye thoroughly dried, and they were dried out on the men's backs as
they flew north” (Blakeley 36).

“Because this company was the leading element of the 126TH,
and that regiment was, in turn, the leading unit of the Division, General
Harding told the men of the company that they were ‘the spearhead of the
spearhead of the spearhead.’Thereafter
Company E proudly called itself ‘The Three Spearheads’.” (Blakeley 36)

The rest of the 126TH was shipped to Port Moresby by
boat, starting on 18 September from Brisbane Harbor.General Kenney started flying the 128TH
Infantry from Townsville, Australia to Port Moresby that same day.

photo
added 12 Dec. 12

Map depicting the location of Port Morseby
and the Buna area on New Guinea’s Papuan Peninsula, from U.S. Army Center of
Military History brochure ‘New Guinea’.

U.S.
Army Signal Corps photo

An
Australian sentry guards an American Boeing B–17 ‘Flying Fortress’ in the
early morning as Soldiers of the 128TH Infantry, 32D
Division, wait in the distance to board a plane for New Guinea at Amberly
Field, Ipswich, Australia,
on 18 September 1942.

By 25 September, the 128TH had completed its movement to
Seven-Mile Strip near Port Moresby.The
Japanese were able to frequently bomb this airfield, but the engineers could
repair it quickly enough to keep it open.

“The Liberty Ship, Benjamin Franklin,
anchored in the harbor at Port Moresby, Papua, New Guinea, on the afternoon of
Monday, September 28, 1942.Aboard was the 2nd Battalion, 126th Inf.
(2/126), (less Co. E) and an Aussie Tank Co. Due to limited dock space, the
troops were ferried ashore by an Aussie corvette.The 2/126 joined Co. E at Bootless Bay where
they bivouacked.” (Smith 1)

“The 128th was already opening a road in the
Goldie River Valley, and Captain [William
F.] Boice [126TH Inf. S-2] with Lieutenant
Bernard Howes, six men from Company E of the 126th, and some forty natives, had
begun a reconnaissance of the trail from Kapa Kapa
toward Jaure.” (Blakeley 40)

Capt. William Francis ‘Jimmy’
Boice was from Swayzee, IN.He graduated
from DePauw University and was commissioned from ROTC in '26.Married and father of 1, he was a teacher at
Deedsville, IN and coached basketball at Ervin Township School (Howard Co.) from
’34 to ’41. [added 14 Nov.
’14, TPB]

First Lt. Bernard P. Howes,
married, was from Hugo, OK and had attended the University of Oklahoma in ‘39-’40.He entered active service as a Pvt. with the
Oklahoma National Guard at Oklahoma City, OK, on 16 Sep. ‘40.He was commissioned at some point and trained
at Ft. Sill, OK and Camp Barkeley, TX with the 179TH Infantry, 45TH
‘Thunderbird’ Infantry Division.He was transferred
to Co. E, 126TH Inf. ca. 17 Feb. ‘42. [added 14 Nov. ’14, TPB]

The remainder of the 32D Division
Headquarters, minus a rear detachment, arrived in Port Moresby by air on the 29
September.

“General MacArthur and the Australian
commander of New Guinea Force, (Gen. Sir Thomas Blamey) decided that while the
Australians were driving the Japanese back along the Kokoda Trail, the 32nd Division
would make a wide envelopment to the east and attack the enemy’s left flank in
the vicinity of Buna.The initial plan
was to march the entire Division over the mountains, but both Kenney and
Harding argued for an air movement to insure speed and avoid dissipating the
strength of the Division by marching it across the exhausting mountain
trails.The plan, as finally adopted,
provided that most of the enveloping force was to go by air to the seacoast
southeast of Buna.” (Blakeley 40) The
straight-line distance from Port Moresby to Buna is 120 miles, but between them
lies the 13,000 foot Owen Stanley Range.

The 2D Battalion, 126TH
Infantry, was designated for the grueling mission of protecting the right flank
of the Australians, by marching over the Owen Stanley Mountains on the Kapa Kapa Trail.

On 6 October 1942 an advance detachment
started out from Kalikadobu (Karekodobu) to set up
air drop zones along the Kapa Kapa-Dobodura Trail at Laruni
and Jaure.Kalikadobu (Karekodobu) was nicknamed Kalamazoo by the 126TH
Inf. (a reference to their home state of Michigan).This detachment was commanded by Captain
Alfred Medendorp and consisted of the 126TH Infantry’s Antitank and
Cannon Companies (functioning as infantry, their artillery was left in Australia)
plus 100 natives.

On 7 October a detachment from Co. E was
added to Capt. Medendorp’s force when it reached Nepeana.This new detachment included a five-man
communications team commanded by Lt. James G. Downer and a 40-man rifle platoon
led by Lt. Harold B. Chandler, Jr. They would act as Capt. Medendorp’s advance
guard from Nepeana to Jaure, where they would rejoin Co. E.

Lieutenant James Garnett
Downer was from Pekin, IL and also had ties to
Pembroke, KY.He graduated University of
Illinois, Class of '38, and also studied at Bowling Green College and/or
Western Kentucky University. [added 14 Nov.
’14, TPB]

Lieutenant Harold B.
Chandler, Jr. was from Augusta, GA and also had ties to Roanoke Co., VA.He attended Junior College of Augusta and
graduated from The Citadel, Class of '39. [added 14 Nov. ’14, TPB]

The remainder of the 2D Battalion, 126TH
Infantry, started out on 14 October, with Company E (Capt. Schulz)
leading, followed by Co. F (1st Lt. Erwin J. Nummer).The rest of the companies followed at one day
intervals.General Harding’s advance
headquarters was at Kalamazoo (Kalikadobu orKarekodobu) at this
time.The 3D (and part of the
1ST) Battalion of the 126TH would later be flown to
Pongani.The remainder of 1ST
Battalion was flown to Abel’s Field in the upper Musa Valley, where they then
had a difficult march through the swamp to Pongani.

Meanwhile the 128TH Infantry was flown
to Wanigela Mission on Collingswood Bay, 65 miles southeast of Buna.Most of the regiment completed this move on 14-18
October, with Lt. Col. Kelsie E. Miller’s 3D Battalion as the
lead element. The plan was that the 128TH would march to Pongani,
about 25 miles from Buna, with the 6th Independent Company (Australian) leading
the way.Brig. Gen. Hanford ‘Jack’
MacNider, an officer on MacArthur’s staff, was attached to the 32D
Div. and Maj. Gen. Harding made him commander of this task force (which a few
weeks later became WARREN Task Force, or simply WARREN Force).

Brig. Gen. MacNider had
been in the G-4 Section at GHQ SWPA before MacArthur attached him to the 32D
Division.Born and raised in Iowa, he
graduated from Harvard University in 1911.He joined the Iowa National Guard ca. 1916 and served during the Mexican
Border Crisis with 2D Iowa Inf.He started WWI as a 1st Lt. in the 9TH Inf., 2D
Div., and at the end he was Lt. Col.After the war back in Iowa, he was elected state commander of the
American Legion in 1920 and national commander in 1921.President Coolidge appointed him assistant
secretary of war, as which he served from 1925 to 1928 (Maj. Dwight D.
Eisenhower was his executive assistant).President Hoover appointed him envoy to Canada from 1930 to 1932.He returned to active military service after
Pearl Harbor, was promoted to Brig. Gen. on 17 August 1942.

On 14 October, the Australians set out,
traveling lightly, to blaze the trail.They discovered that the Musa River was in flood, and still rising.As a result, most of the trails in the area
were unusable, but they were able to struggle to Pongani.The 128TH Infantry had a tougher
time.

“The heavily loaded 3d Battalion, though only a
day behind the Australians, was unable to get through.After foundering in knee-deep swamps, the men
reached Totore on the afternoon of 16 October, and went into camp at a nearby
point called GuriGuri,
‘the most filthy, swampy, mosquito infested area,’ Colonel Miller noted in his
diary, that he had ever seen.

“A raft and log crossing was attempted at a
nearby native village called Dove 1.Reconnaissance on the far side showed that a crossing there would put
the battalion on the wrong route, and the project was abandoned in favor of a
crossing at Dove 2, three miles downstream.On 18 October, 1500 feet of cable was dropped from the air at GuriGuri.No tools, tie wire, clamps, or bolts were
dropped with the cable.Company M, under
Capt. Frank N. Williams, and a platoon of Company C, 114th Engineer Battalion,
carried the cable, strung out by hand, to Dove 2, and started establishing the
crossing there.

“Though still without tools, clamps, or tie
wire, Captain Williams soon had a makeshift crossing over the Musa.It too had to be abandoned when ANGAU
(Australian-New Guinea Administrative Unit) passed on the information that the
trail leading out of Dove 2 was under seven feet of water and impassable to
anything except small boats and native canoes.

“On 20 October, Company M and the engineer
platoon were ordered to rejoin the battalion at GuriGuri.They returned
to find that the battalion's orders had been changed. Its instructions now were
to turn north and march to Gobe, a point on the shore
of Porlock Harbor, just around the east coast from Cape Nelson.The battalion was to be shuttled from Gobe to
Pongani in such of the boats coming in with supplies from Milne Bay as could
negotiate the treacherous waters around Cape Nelson.The 2d Battalion, which had been just behind
the 3d on the Wanigela-Totore track, was ordered back to Wanigela, to be moved
to Pongani by sea as soon as shipping was available.The elements of the 1st Battalion present at
Wanigela were to follow immediately and the rest of the battalion was to be
transferred to Pongani in the same fashion as soon as it reached Wanigela.

“The overland march of the 3d Battalion from Totore to Gobe lasted
four days and took it through mosquito-infested swamp.The men arrived at their destination
exhausted.Many of them had picked up
malaria in the swamp, and the health of the battalion began deteriorating
almost at once.In the opinion of those
who knew it best, the 3rd Battalion continued to show the ill effects of its
march through the swamps along the Musa throughout the rest of the campaign.” (Victory in
Papua, qtd. in Blakeley 43)

Around
this time the 32D Division acquired its own navy, so to speak.The Division Quartermaster, Lt. Col. Laurence
A. McKenny, was given control of eight small boats (luggers
or trawlers of about 20 tons displacement each) for supply and evacuation
between Wanigela and Pongani.Larger
fishing boats, 100 to 120 tons displacement, were to bring supplies from Milne
Bay along the coast to Wanigela, but they could not proceed past there due to
shallow reefs.Transferring the supplies
to the smaller luggers meant they could be shipped much closer to the battle
area.The boats belonged to the U.S.
Army Small Ships Section, commanded by Maj. George P. Bradford, which was part of
the Combined Operational Service Command (COSC).The COSC was a joint U.S. and Australian unit
which had recently been established to coordinate supplies for both armies on
New Guinea.[updated 19 May
’12, TPB]

The
creation of the U.S. Army Small Ships Section was first contemplated as a last
ditch effort to provide much-needed relief to the U.S. and Filipino forces
desperately holding out on the Bataan Peninsula in the face of Japan’s invasion
of the Philippines.Unfortunately Bataan
fell before this unit was operational.The organization continued when it was realized that the U.S. Navy would
be unable or unwilling to support looming joint U.S. Army and Australian
operations in the Southwest Pacific.Some references state that the Navy simply did not have enough ships,
other references point to the well-known clash of egos between certain generals
and admirals as the root cause.Either
way, it was obvious that ships would be needed to transport equipment,
supplies, and troops in order for the Allies to counter the Japanese advance across
the Papuan Peninsula toward Port Moresby. [all from this “˅” to its
inverse symbol below was added 14 Nov. ’14, TPB]

A pair of wealthy, well-traveled, brothers, Adam Bruce Fahnestock,
Jr. and John Sheridan Fahnestock (both often went by their middle names), were
instrumental in the creation of the Small Ships Section.They had co-led several sailing expeditions to the South Seas
in the late '30s to early '40s. Almost
prophetic, their first trip included a stop at Peking, China, a few weeks after
the Japanese invasion, where Sheridan was beaten by Japanese soldiers on 5 Aug.
'37 for taking photographs.They
co-wrote a book detailing their first expedition, Stars to Windward.Their second voyage ended a little sooner
than expected, when their ship sank after hitting the Great Barrier Reef near
Gladstone, Australia on 18 Oct. '40.The
crew survived but nearly everything was lost, luckily, Bruce had flown home
from Fiji a few weeks earlier with some of their collections.Their third excursion included some
intelligence gathering at the request of President Roosevelt, a family friend.

Based
on their experiences, the brothers and some members of their expeditions were
commissioned ca. 12 Feb. '42; Sheridan received a direct commission to captain,
Bruce to first lieutenant, and the other members all second lieutenant.They, and other military personnel, organized
the U.S. Army's Small Ships Section, which employed about 3,000 civilian
mariners and yachtsmen to operate a varied collection of ships to provide
invaluable support to U.S. and Australian military forces from New Guinea to
the Philippines.The ships ranged from small
60-year-old, wooden-hulled, sailing vessels to more modern, steel-hulled,
diesel-powered freighters.Many of the
smaller ships were of shallow draft, selected for their ability to ply the tricky,
reef-laden coastal waters.The larger
ships were needed to transport equipment and supplies from major ports closer
to the forward areas, where the supplies would be trans-loaded to the smaller,
coastal vessels for the last leg to the combat zones.The civilians employed to man the ships were
mostly Australians, but some American civilians and Coast Guard Auxiliaries
were also recruited.The majority of the
civilians were those ineligible for military service, be it due to age or
physical fitness.

The
U.S. Army Small Ships Section was the inspiration of The Wackiest Ship in the Army, a 1960 comedy
movie and subsequent '65-'66 TV series.

The
factual history of this vital yet little-known unit is quite interesting and
the brief summary attempted here does not do it justice.I attempt to avoid the inclusion of links, just
as I attempt to avoid referring to myself in the first person, because links
often change.I feel obligated to
include a few links on this subject to encourage the reader to learn more about
the U.S. Army Small Ships Section.Plus
these are organizations which will probably be around for a while: the U.S. Army Small Ships
Association, the Australian
National Maritime Museum, and the U.S.
Army Transportation Corps.

Lt.
Col. Laurence A. McKenny grew up in Milwaukee, WI; then his family moved to
Ypsilanti, MI.He graduated West
Division H. S. in Milwaukee and attended Wisconsin State Teachers College at
Milwaukee, but completed his education at Michigan State Normal College.During WWI, he trained and deployed overseas
with Co. C, 313TH Fld. Sig. Bn., 88TH
Div.That unit was designated a
replacement division when it reached France and he was transferred to the 32D
Div. (some references state he served with Air Corps).Married, father of 2, he was principal of an
elementary school in Detroit, MI when he entered active service for WWII.He was Lt. Col. in HQ, 63D Inf. Bde., Michigan National Guard, at Detroit, MI when 32D
Div. mobilized on 15 Oct. ‘40.[all from this “˄” to its inverse symbol above was added 14 Nov. ’14, TPB]

Those small boats placed at Lt. Col. McKenny’s disposal would soon prove to be indispensable, but would
not make life quite as easy as it would seem.Movement during daylight made them vulnerable to enemy air attack.There were no wharves, which meant the
supplies had to be transferred, by hand, to even smaller boats off-shore, then
ferried to the beaches, where they were unloaded again by hand.This fleet was handling most supplies, but
some also had to be delivered by air, which was handicapped by inadequate
landing fields and drop zones, bad weather, and enemy interference.

“The first two luggers[King John andTimoshenko] reached
Wanigela on 17 October and were at once sent forward to Pongani with men and
supplies.Early the following morning, a
Fifth Air Force B–25 mistook them for the enemy and bombed the boats off
Pongani.Two men were killed; Lt. A. B.
Fahnestock, in charge of small boat operations for the COSC, and Byron Darnton,
a veteran correspondent of The New York Times who had served with the
32d Division during World War I, and had looked forward to reporting its
operations in World War II.Several
others were wounded, and one of the boats suffered such severe damage that it
had to be withdrawn from the run.” (Milner 108)

First Lieutenant Adam Bruce Fahnestock, Jr., who often went by his
middle name, was from Hartford, CT; he grew up at Manhasset, NY.He and his brother John Sheridan, who also
often went by his middle name, co-led a couple of sailing expeditions to the
southwest Pacific in the late '30s and early '40s. Due to their experience, the brothers and some
members of their expedition were granted Army commissions on 12 Feb. ’42 and
helped organize the U.S. Army's Small Ships Section.He was seriously wounded by shrapnel during
the aerial attack on the King John;
he succumbed to his wounds soon after.He was hit while manning the .50 cal. machinegun and firing at the
attacking plane.Lieutenant Fahnestock
was repatriated and re-interred at Arlington National Cemetery. [added 14 Nov. ’14, TPB]

Byron ‘Barney’ Darnton, born Francis Byron Darnton, was originally
from Adrian, MI but called Westport, CT home during his employ by the New York
Times.Soon after his graduation from
Adrian High School in 1917, he enlisted as a private in the 33D
Mich. Inf. Regt., Michigan National Guard.He was assigned to Co. B, 126TH Inf. when the 32D
Div. was organized at Camp MacArthur, TX.He fought in all the 32D Division’s WWI campaigns in France
and served with Army of Occupation in Germany.He had attained the rank of sergeant before he was commissioned second
lieutenant at end of war.After
graduating from the University of Michigan in 1921, he worked for several
newspapers before joining the New York Times in 1934. Married and father of two
young sons, he was assigned to Australia as war correspondent circa Feb.
'42.He was seriously wounded by
shrapnel during the aerial attack on the King
John; he succumbed to his wounds soon after.He was 1 of 14 war correspondents bestowed
with the National Headliner’s Club’s new medal of valor on 5 Jun. '43, 5 were
presented posthumously.The Liberty Ship
S.S. Byron Darnton was named in his
honor; christened by his widow and launched on 16 Dec. ’43 from the
Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard at Baltimore, MD.He was repatriated and re-interred in the family plot at Oakwood
Cemetery, Adrian, MI on 24 Jun. ’48.One
of his sons, John Darnton, provides some insight into Byron’s life and tragic,
untimely demise in his memoir, Almost a Family. [added 14 Nov. ’14, TPB]

photo
added 4 Dec. 12

Australian
War Memorial photo

Soldiers from 2D Bn., 128TH Inf., board
the luggers at Wanigela for the trip to Pongani ca. 17 Oct. ’42.

photo
added 4 Dec. 12

Australian
War Memorial photo

One of the luggers packed with Soldiers (likely from 2D
Bn., 128TH Inf.), bound from Wanigela to Pongani ca. 17 Oct. ’42.

Several
Soldiers earned the Silver Star for their gallantry on 18 October.Some of them are
listed here and more
information about them and their medals can be found on theroster of
Silver Star recipients.

Pfc. Shelby M.
Roof, from Lincoln, Nebraska and assigned to the 32D Div., earned the
Silver Star for his actions on 18 October near Pongani. [added 28 Apr. ’13, TPB]

Pvt. Vernon E.
Diegel, from Manitowoc, Wisconsin and assigned to the 128TH Inf.,
earned the Silver Star for his actions as a medic on 18 October near Pongani.[added 3 Apr. ’13, TPB]

Several variables were preventing an all-out offensive by the 32D
Division against the Japanese at this time.First, a large supply of food and ammunition would have to be
accumulated north of the “Hump”, as the flyers called the Owen Stanley
Mountains.Also, the high command
changed their plan; now they decided to make a coordinated attack with the
Australians at Gona and Americans at Buna, but this required a delay because
the Australians were still pushing the Japanese over the mountains and into the
coastal areas.The 32D
Division’s drive on Buna would consist of two separate but simultaneous
attacks, the first on the coast, and the second from Dobodura.

An additional factor in the delay was the fact
that the 2D Battalion, 126TH Infantry, had not arrived in
the forward area yet.It was still
enduring its exhausting struggle over the Owen Stanleys.

“It was grueling march on a line paralleling the
Kokoda Trail, and the men who made it will remember it forever as a living,
wide-awake nightmare.For forty-two days
they climbed, scrambled, clawed and suffered – many times cutting their own
trail through some of the most awesome territory in the world.

“The Battalion was commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel Henry A. Geerds, who suffered a heart attack several days out.The Battalion was then taken over by Major
Herbert M. Smith of Neillsville, Wisconsin.Smith led his men through eerie ghost forests where phosphorus lighted
the trees and they sank to their knees in mud.

“This is what Lieutenant Paul R. Lutjens of Big
Rapids, Michigan, had to say about it.Lutjens was a platoon leader with Company E – he had been commissioned
from the ranks.Company E was a day or
so ahead of the rest of the battalion and Lutjens, for most of the way, was out
in front of Company E.His detachment
moved in single file along the muddy jungle trails, each man three or four
yards from the next one.It didn’t take them long to decide that there were items in
their full-field equipment they could do without.They cut their blankets in half.They dumped their mosquito nettings at the
side of the trail.Though it rained
unrelentingly every afternoon and night, they discarded their rain coats.Each man kept one uniform – the one he had
on.They abandoned their shaving
equipment and other toilet articles, keeping only their tooth brushes – with
which they tried to keep their rifles clean. “What difference did it make,
washing your teeth, if you could clean your rifle?” Lutjens said.

“Day
after day the Battalion plodded through some of the worst and wildest jungle in
the world.They went through waist deep
streams and along trails that were waist deep channels of mud.Half the time they could not see the sky
– only matted leaves and vines. It would take five or six hours to go a mile,
edging along cliff walls, hanging on to vines, up and down, up and down. Men
got weaker and began to lag back.It
would rain from three o’clock in the afternoon on, soaking everything.The rivers they crossed were so swift that if
you slipped, it was just too bad.There
wasn’t any way of evacuating to the rear.Everyone was driven on by the fear of being left behind.

“Their
bones ached and dysentery had hit almost every man.They were filthy and caked with mud, and
washed themselves only when they happened to be crossing a river.They climbed to 8,000 feet, to the top of the
gap through which they stumbled over the Owen Stanleys.It took them seven hours to crawl the last
2,000 feet.They couldn’t march for more
than 15 minutes without lying down and resting.They crossed at a place called Ghost Mountain
[Mount Suwemalla] to which Lutjens devoted a few lines in his diary.

““It was the eeriest place I ever saw.The trees were covered with moss a half a
foot thick.We would walk along a hogback,
straddling the trail, with a sheer drop of thousands of feet two feet on either
side of us.We kept hearing water
running somewhere, but we couldn’t find any.We could thrust a stick six feet down in the spongy stuff we were
walking on without hitting anything real solid.It was ungodly cold.There wasn’t
a sign of life.Not a bird.Not a fly.Not a sound.It was the strangest
feeling I ever had.If we stopped, we
froze.If we moved, we sweated.”

“The men were
gaunt and down to a shadow – eyes sunk deep in their heads.On the highest point in the trail there
stands a simple monument to mark the grave of a doughboy who died on the road
to Buna.His epitaph, such as it was,
was carved into the soggy pages of Lutjens’ notebook:

““Today we lost PFC.-----, who died at 2:00 p.m.Dysentery and fever . . . a damn good
man.The trip was a little too much for
him.”(Fleischer and Lutjens, qtd. in
Blakeley 46-7) [expanded 14
Nov. ’14, TPB]

On
29 October Japanese aircraft bombed
Allied forces near Tupuseli (Tupeseli), New Guinea.At least
three U.S. Soldiers were severely wounded.Tec.
Floyd J. Nichols, from San Antonio, Texas, and Tec. Marvin E. Borgman, from
Grand Rapids, Michigan, were both medics assigned to the 126TH Inf.
who earned the Silver Star for their efforts to treat the wounded during the
attack on 29 October.More information about them
and their medals can be found on theroster of
Silver Star recipients.Tec. Borgman was a Pvt. in Med. Det., 126TH Inf.,
Michigan National Guard, at Grand Rapids, MI, when 32D Div.
mobilized on 15 Oct. ‘40. [added 18 Feb. ’13, TPB]

That same day, 29
October, Japanese aircraft conducted a strafing attack near Jaure along the
Kapa Kapa Trail in the Owen Stanleys.Three Soldiers from Co. H, 126TH
Inf. were KIA or DOW.Pvt. Oliver Vance Winscot,
from Omaha, Nebraska, was KIA during the attack, a couple of weeks shy of his
23rd birthday.Pvt. Winscot was posthumously bestowed with
the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and CIB.Pfc.
Joseph Ambrose, from Wayland, Michigan, was wounded in the attack and DOW
shortly afterward.Pfc. Ambrose was a
Pvt. in Co. H, 126TH Inf., Michigan National Guard, at Ionia, MI,
when 32D Div. mobilized on 15 Oct. ‘40.Pvt. Vernon A. C. Voss, from Crawford Co.,
Iowa, was wounded in the attack and DOW shortly afterward. [added 30 Jun. ‘13, TPB]

While
the 2D Battalion was enduring its tremendously difficult journey,
they had to be supplied by air drops along their route.On 5 November 1942, Col. Lawrence A. Quinn, commander of the 126TH Inf., was KIA while
flying on one of these air drop missions.During the drop, one of the cargo parachutes became tangled in the tail
assembly of the plane, causing it to crash in the Owen Stanley Mountains near Natunga, killing Col. Quinn and
everyone else on board.The plane was a
C–47 named Broadway Limited, from 6TH
Squadron, 374TH Troop Carrier Group, 54TH Troop Carrier
Wing, crewed by 2d Lt. Harold B. Majure (pilot), Sgt. Douglas Croot, RAAF (co-pilot),
T/Sgt. Clifford D. Stephens (radio), and Sgt. Jack J. Deonier (engineer). Passengers were Col. Quinn, Capt. Harland C.
Andrews, Pvt. Stanley C. Davis, and Pvt. Kenneth W. Horrocks.All of the crew and passengers were KIA.The wreck was located later the same day by
Soldiers of the 126TH Inf. and the remains of all 8 servicemen were
recovered.Chaplain (Lt.) Stephen
J. Dzienis, from Wyandotte, Michigan, officiated at the funeral for those who
were killed.Chaplain Dzienis was
marching over the Owen Stanleys with the 2D
Bn., 126TH Inf.

On 3 November 2000 a visitor to this web site, G. L. Thoman,
offered this information, and his permission to include it here, about the
fateful air drop: “The primary reason Col. Quinn was on the fatal air
drop flight was that he was curious about how the air drops would work with
parachutes.My father Capt. Kenneth R.
Thoman was the supply officer of the 126th and had been flying on the air
drops.They crammed in as many drops as
daylight would permit.I think this was
one of the first attempts at resupply from the air.The troops on the ground would clear a drop
zone and the C-47 would come in at tree top level.On a signal from the co-pilot my father and
three of his men would push the cargo out of the door.Hoping it would hit the drop zone and still
be usable without parachutes.On the
first day they used cargo chutes my dad and his men had the C-47 loaded.Col. Quinn drove up to the plane and told
Capt. Thoman to stay back and he would handle the drop.The Col. wanted to see how the new chutes
would work.On the first pass the chute
opened inside the aircraft and fouled the elevators.The whole crew was lost.It was curiosity that cost the Colonel his
life and saved my fathers.”

Colonel
Lawrence A. Quinn, married, was from Carmel, CA and also had ties to Arlington
Co., VA.His father, John, had retired
in 1905 as a regimental sergeant major after 30 years of cavalry service.Lawrence enlisted in Co. C, 3D
D.C. Inf., D.C. Nat. Guard, in '16.He
attained rank of Sgt. by 31 May ‘17 and was commissioned 2d Lt. 1 Jun. ‘17.He was WIA on 6 Oct. ‘18 in France.Promoted 1st Lt. on 20 Oct. ‘18; he was a Capt.
in 23D Inf., 2D Div., and earned Silver Star Citation and
Croix de Guerre w/bronze star by the end of WWI.All three of his brothers served overseas
during WWI and 2 of them were also WIA.He was assigned Asst. Prof. of Military Science and Tactics at
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, on 15 Apr. ‘23.He and Capt. Harland C. Andrews, regimental
supply officer, had conceived the idea of dropping supplies from planes while
his 2D Bn., 126TH Inf., was marching over the Owen
Stanley Mountains.He was awarded the
OLC to the Purple Heart, bestowed posthumously.Col. Quinn is interred at Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, CA. [added 17 Nov. ’14, TPB]

Captain
Harland C. Andrews, married, was from Detroit, MI. He was assigned to 32D Division
Surgeon’s Office, Michigan National Guard, at Detroit, MI when the 32D
Div. mobilized on 15 Oct. '40. He and
Col. Lawrence A. Quinn had conceived the idea of dropping supplies from planes while
the 2D Bn., 126TH Inf., was marching over the Owen
Stanley Mountains. He earned the Purple
Heart, bestowed posthumously, and is interred at Oakwood Cemetery, Adrian, MI. [added 22 Nov. ’14, TPB]

Chaplain (Lt.) Stephen J. Dzienis was serving St.
Stanislaus Parish at Wyandotte, MI before he entered active military service in
Jun. ’42, but was originally from Shamokin or Shenandoah, PA.He graduated Mount St. Mary's College in ‘29
and studied at International College, Vatican City, before being ordained 11
Jun. '33. [added 25 Nov. ’14, TPB]

Second
Lieutenant Harold B. Majure was from Jackson, MS and had ties to Winston Co.,
MS.He entered service as an aviation
cadet on 2 Oct. '41 at Jackson, MS. He served
with 6TH Sq., 374TH Trp. Carrier Gp.,
and piloted the C–47 Broadway Limited.A few days before the plane crash, on 2 Nov.
'42, his plane had dropped an Australian flag to the soldiers who had just evicted
the Japanese from Kokoda, so they could proudly fly their national colors over
the liberated village. He is interred at
Manila American Cemetery. [added 22 Nov.
’14, TPB]

Sergeant
Douglas D. Croot,from
Canna, Western Australia, had entered service 23 Jun. '41 at Perth, Western
Australia.He served with No. 36
Squadron, RAAF, and was the co-pilot of C–47 Broadway Limited. The
relationship between No. 36 Squadron and 6TH Sq., 374TH Trp.
Carrier Gp. is unclear (at least to me).Did the two units work together all the
time?Was he a permanent member of this
crew?Was he temporarily assigned to
this U.S. unit for any one of a multitude of possible reasons?Either way he gave his all and lies interred
at Port Moresby War Cemetery, also known as theBomana War Cemetery at Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. [added 22 Nov. ’14, TPB]

Sergeant
Jack J. Deonier, from Wyandotte Co., KS, entered service as an Air Corp Pvt. on
26 Feb. '41 at Ft. Leavenworth, KS.Some
references state he enlisted in the Air Corps in FL, where he and his family
lived in ’40. He served with the 6TH
Sq., 374TH Trp. Carrier Gp. and was engineer
of C–47 Broadway Limited. He is interred at Golden Gate National
Cemetery, San Bruno, CA. [added 22 Nov. ’14, TPB]

Technical
Sergeant Clifford D. Stephens, from Wood Co., WV, was the radio operator of
C–47 Broadway Limited.ABMC lists his unit as 63D Trp.
Carrier Gp., but that was a training unit that did not
deploy beyond the U.S.It is likely he
trained with that unit but was assigned to 6TH Sq., 374TH
Trp. Carrier Gp. when he was killed.He is interred at Manila American Cemetery. [added 22 Nov. ’14, TPB]

Private
First Class Stanley C. Davis, from Adrian, MI, was a Pvt. in Co. B, 126TH
Inf., Michigan National Guard, at Adrian, MI when the 32D Div.
mobilized on 15 Oct. ’40.He earned the Purple
Heart, is interred at Manila American Cemetery, and is also memorialized at Maple
Grove Cemetery, Hudson, MI.His cousin, T/4
Gerald M. Davis, would be KIA a couple of weeks later, 21 Nov. ’42, while
serving with the 126TH Inf. [added 22 Nov.
’14, TPB]

Private
Kenneth William Horrocks, from Easton, MI, married, was a Pvt. in Co. H, 126TH
Inf., Michigan National Guard, at Ionia, MI when the 32D Div.
mobilized on 15 Oct. ‘40. His brother,
Pvt. Elton J. Horrocks, served in the same company.He is interred at Evergreen Township
Cemetery, Sheridan, MI. [added 22 Nov. ’14, TPB]

The website PacificWrecks.com
has additional information about the crash of Broadway Limited.

Col.
Quinn was succeeded in command of the 126TH by Lt. Col. Clarence M.
Tomlinson of the 3D Battalion, Maj. George C. Bond then became CO of
3D Bn.Capt. Andrews was
succeeded by Capt. Harry C. Menclewski (Mencleuski) (126TH Inf. and Michigan National
Guard).[updated 19 May ’12, TPB]

On 10 November, the
C–47 Flying Dutchman, with a crew of
three, took off from 5-Mile Drome (a.k.a. Ward’s Drome) at Port Moresby to haul
supplies and 20 personnel of the 126TH Inf. over the Owen Stanley
Mountains to Pongani.At approximately 1330
hours, in heavy rain and extremely limited visibility, it crashed into the side
of Mount Obree, at an elevation of approximately
9,000 feet.Seven personnel were killed
in the crash and another eight were seriously injured.Between the impact and subsequent fire,
almost all of the food and supplies were destroyed.[added 1
Mar. ‘13,
TPB]

Knowing that their situation was dire and that the crash site was
extremely isolated and would be difficult to spot, four survivors set out for help
two days after the crash.On 15 November, the four healthiest of the
remaining men set out in a different direction.All of the eight Soldiers who remained at the crash were wounded, most
of them seriously, only one of them was physically able to fetch water and
scrounge for food.Of the eight men who
set out for help, six made it back to civilization in early and mid-December. [added 1 Mar. ‘13, TPB]

Due to several unfortunate circumstances, in spite of several
search attempts, the wreck was not located until July of 1944.The eight remaining crash survivors had
succumbed to their injuries, shortage of food, and the harsh environment.The crash site was revisited in 1961 (1967)
during a search for another aircraft that had disappeared in the area.That is when an incredible discovery was
made, the ‘door diary’.One of the
survivors had started a journal on the day of the crash, he wrote it in pencil
on the plane’s lavatory door.It is an
interesting, valuable, and ultimately forlorn timeline of the experiences of
the survivors as they held out hope for a rescue that sadly never came.The last entry was written on 1 Jan. ’43.
[added 1
Mar. ‘13, TPB]

One of the men seriously injured in the crash was Chaplain (Capt.)
Theodore W. Barron, from Wenatchee, Washington, and assigned to the 126TH
Infantry.He died from his injuries ca.
29 Dec. ‘42 and is interred at the Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, HI.
[added 1
Mar. ‘13, TPB]

Much additional information about the Flying Dutchman can be found at the National
Museum of the Air Force and PacificWrecks.com.Both sites have photographs and transcripts
of the ‘door diary’.The former also has
photographs of the wreck.The latter has
a roster of the personnel aboard and more detailed information about the
specific aircraft. [added 1 Mar. ‘13, TPB]

Soldiers of the 127TH Infantry, 32D
Division doing a rifle inspection aboard the USS George Taylorenroute from Brisbane,
Australia to Port Moresby, New Guinea, on 18 Nov. 1942.

On 20 November
1942 the 2D Battalion, 126TH Infantry Regiment
staggered into Soputa after their exhausting struggle to cross the Owen Stanley
Mountains was over, but the struggle to take Buna still lay ahead.The remainder of the Regiment, and the
Division, would be spared the excruciating march over the Owen Stanleys.The 126TH
Infantry’s 1ST and 3D Battalions would be flown from Port
Moresby to Pongani and Abel’s Field.The
128TH Infantry, as described above, and the 127TH
Infantry, as described soon, would fly over the mountains.

Hill, Jim Dan, Major General, Retired. The
Minute Man in Peace and War. Harrisburg: The Stackpole
Company, 1964.Jungwirth, Clarence
J. Diary of a National Guardsman in World War II. Oshkosh,
WI: Poeschl Printing Company, 1991.Mayo, Lida.Bloody Buna.Canberra, Australia: Australian National
University Press, 1975.